Filipino: A liberal arts medium of instruction?

Teaching with the use of the mother tongue is one of the highlights of the K-12 program. It is believed that students learn best with their first language. In light of this, English and Filipino will both be taught as independent subjects starting Grade 1. Both languages will therefore become the primary medium of instruction in Junior High School (JHS) and Senior High School (SHS).

At the dawn of this arrangement’s implementation, the issue of Filipino teachers having lesser load than any other faculty members arises, with alternatives of teaching regular subjects such as theology, philosophy and psychology.

However, Dr. Josefina Mangahis, chair of the Filipino department says that her first response regarding the issue is qualification. “Kwalipikado ba ang faculty na magtuturo ng pilosopiya sa wikang Filipino? Dapat doctor of philosophy, may specialization siya sa pilosopiya. Ganun din sa iba pang asignatura o kurso. Kwalipikasyon ang unang-una,”  she explains. The Filipino department has the objective to spread the usage of Filipino language and at the same time persuade everyone to use it as engagement with our Filipino culture.

The plan of lesser loads for Filipino teachers has yet to be finalized and officially adopted according to Mr. David Michael San Juan, professor from the Filipino Department.

Filipino subjects in DLSU

In other universities such as the University of the Philippines (UP) and the Ateneo De Manila University (Ateneo), philosophy and theology subjects are openly taught in Filipino. Philosophy subjects are taught in English at UP, while in Ateneo, one can choose between English or Filipino for philosophy.

In Ateneo, there are core subjects in philosophy and theology that are required to be taught in Filipino. Usually the mode of teaching and deliverables are in Filipino but the readings discussed are in English. For instance, Fr. Roque Ferriols SJ, initiated Filipino philosophy and stuck to the concept of considering language as essential to the Filipino way of thinking. Looking intently at the course, it is more suitable for the concepts to be taught in Filipino than in English with concepts such as pagkatao or pagpapakatao.

Inside the University, the teaching of history and philosophy subjects in the vernacular depends on the professor’s preference. There is also Sikolohiyang Pilipino, one of the major subjects specified under the Psychology program which happens to be a subject taught in UP as well.

Moreover, theology subjects in DLSU are predominantly taught in English, unlike the case in UP and Ateneo. Edna Cadsawan, professor from TRED department shares however, “I often would be using English or Taglish in situations where I have foreign students, otherwise I do not see any problem teaching theology in Filipino.”

Medium of instruction

Most of the professors have good impressions regarding Filipino as a medium of instruction in the long run. They believe that it will be a good opportunity for Filipinos to be unified through the use of the primary language as the medium in education.

“In the long run, the national language must be really used as the sole medium of instruction in all subjects and levels so that it will become fully intellectualized like any national language of a First World country. However, I think that even if Filipino will be used as the sole medium of instruction, there’s still a need to teach it as a subject,” San Juan elaborates.

Generally, it is perceived that teaching in Filipino depends on the skills of the professor and the needs of the students, regardless if it will be easier or harder for the teachers to teach and the students to understand.

One advantage has been identified by Cadsawan, “If the professor uses Filipino in teaching, he will be able to expound some more particularly on areas which may be somehow difficult to simplify by just explaining in English. On the part of the Filipino students, they should be able to better understand or deepen their knowledge on what the professor will be conveying.”

According to San Juan, students may be able to improve their skills in using the language and maybe even master it despite the present difficulties at using full Filipino. “It is not very difficult because our students are very intelligent. A number of them are able to master foreign languages such as Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French and German. I see no reason why they will be unable to master and use Filipino.”

On the contrary, there are some disadvantages, the most popular one being how the Filipino language is unfit for some subjects. San Juan thinks that every faculty member is not psychologically ready to use Filipino as medium in teaching. “Some will insist Filipino can’t be used for some subjects. We insist, just the same, that Filipino is ready to be used as medium of instruction in all subjects. If Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu did it, Filipino can do it too,” he furthers.

Another disadvantage, as Cadsawan says, is not only the existence of foreign students in the University but also the reality that most of the students are more proficient and can communicate better in English.

Usage of code-switching

Although bilinguality, the ability to speak two languages fluently (English and Filipino languages in this case) allows professors to have the edge in teaching their subjects and to communicate with their students more effectively, improper use of such ability led to the rise and continuing usage of code-switching, which Dr. Julio Teehankee, Dean of College of Liberal Arts, thinks is the problem nowadays.

“The problem perhaps is code-switching, the use of Taglish,” he says. “There has been an existing policy that prohibits the use of code switching, which is one of the recommendations given by our PAASCU review: to minimize the use of code-switching.”

Taking the extra step

According to some professors, having a class with foreigners is a disadvantage in teaching using the mother tongue. The CLA dean thinks otherwise. With the dawn of ASEAN economic community, Teehankee sees this as an opportunity for foreigners, especially those from Southeast Asian countries, who dare take the extra step of studying the language itself.

“Part of the framework of ASEAN and the building of economic community is also the internationalization of education. What I see here is an opportunity for citizens of other Southeast Asian countries to come here and study Filipino,” he says.

In line with the establishment of community, he explains that the country could also send Filipinos who, in turn, are also interested in learning languages of Southeast Asian countries, like Bahasa and Thai.

Teehankee also revealed that the University is planning for a Southeast Asian Studies program where there would be exchange programs between those interested learning each countries’ languages. “We are planning eventually to set up a Southeast Asian studies program under the International Studies department, together with other departments in College of Liberal Arts and we will have exchange programs with other Southeast Asian universities in which they will come here, our counterparts from Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia and they can study Filipino and we can send our students to their respective countries.”